Product Description

Red Russian Kale Seeds grow leaves that are flat, toothed, grey-green leaves with purple stems and veins really brighten after frosts. Tender for salads and good for bunching, the red and purple hues turn a rich, dark green colour when cooked. It may be richer in vitamins and minerals than other greens and is very disease resistant. This old time heirloom kale eventually goes to seed, producing tall towers of yellow flowers followed by edible seed pods. Seed saving is easy with kale, but don’t let the plant drop its seed in your garden, or there will be kale in your future for years to come.

Matures in 50 days.(Open pollinated seeds)

How to Grow Kale

Kale contains higher levels of beta-carotene than any other green vegetable, and is also high in vitamin C and calcium. Collards are not far behind. All are easy to grow, vigorous, nutritious, resistant to cold, and easy to harvest and prepare. And the greens even get sweeter after frost. Follow along with this handy How to Grow Kale and Collards from Seeds Guide and grow healthy food! Perfect for juicing and long lasting green that stores well, delicious in crunchy salads.

LatinBrassica oleracea var. acephala
Family: Brassicaceae

Difficulty
Easy

We Recommend:Lacinato (KL425). This is a summertime favourite. While Lacinato is less cold hardy than many of its cousins, it forms tall, almost architectural rosettes of substantial leaves. Packed with flavour and nutrients, it’s a great variety for the beginner kale farmer.For Urban Gardeners: Dwarf Green Curled (KL423) stays smaller and more compact, and grows perfectly well in containers or raised beds. It’s also cold hardy, so well suited to winter harvesting.

Harvest
Kale and collards can both be grown as a cut and come again crop for salad mixes by direct-seeding and cutting when plants are 5-8cm (2-3″) tall. They will re-grow. Or pick leaves from the bottom up on mature plants as you need them. In spring, the surviving plants start to flower, so eat the delicious flowering steps and buds.

Diseases & Pests
Protect from cabbage moths and other insect pests with floating row cover. Prevent disease with a strict 4-year crop rotation, avoiding planting Brassicas in the same spot more than once every four years.

Companion Planting
All Brassicas benefit from chamomile, dill, mint, rosemary, and sage. Avoid planting near eggplants, peppers, potatoes, or tomatoes. Plant collards near tomatoes, which repel the flea beetles that so often look for collard leaves to eat.

2 reviews for Red Russian

4 out of 5

WCS Customer – February 10, 2015:

Excellent seed storage life, even with my absent-minded ways. I harvested good crops of Red Russian Kale for three successive years. They don’t seem to mind hot summers or rainy summers, sun or shade. They love to grow, and a few plants will be good to keep you in greens for fresh eating; and blanched and frozen in serving-sized balls, will last you throughout winter.

5 out of 5

WCS Customer – February 16, 2015:

I planted a 10 meter row of this kale in my garden and ended up with more greens than my family could eat in a year. Really, next year I think I’ll plant about 1/3 as much. Like the reviewer above me, I’ve blanched and frozen a huge amount of this stuff for eating over winter.

The greens get tender enough after cooking for 1 year olds, as well. My son eats it quite a bit.

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